"Kuu~n"
While we were talking, Kumayuru cried.
When I looked in the direction that Kumayuru and Kumakyu were facing, I saw that the knight from earlier had just come out of the door.
We shut our mouths and hid. The knight went to his horse, took the reins that he had hooked to a tree, mounted his horse, and rode away.
It seemed like he went unnoticed.
"He must have gone somewhere else. I've seen the knights making regular rounds several times." (Guildmaster)
He was really looking into a lot of things.
I was glad we told guildmaster and the others the purpose of our coming to town.
Sources of information were really important.
After that, I parted ways with guildmaster who said he was going to investigate this place, and I went with Noa to check out the lookout tower that guildmaster had told me about.
If it was a place to steal mana, it was better to know the location.
Noa and I returned to the inn, being careful of the knights and confirming the locations of all the watchtowers.
Then, I told the people at the inn that Blitz and the others had some work to do, so they might not be able to come back.
Even though we were supposed to be looking for Prim's older sister in the city, it couldn't be helped since Blitz and the others never expected that we would end up going on a monster subjugation mission.
However, I was told that dinner could not be prepared if I arrived late.
Well, the Blitz and his party knew that too.
After telling the people at the inn about Blitz and the others, we moved to our room. Then a large insect flew towards me.
"Yuna! Noa!" (Prim)
It was a Prim, not a bug.
Apparently, she had returned safely.
"It's late. Where have you been?" (Yuna)
It seemed like she was waiting in front of the room instead of entering the room.
"Prim probably went to the mansion without permission. We were worried." (Yuna)
"Sorry" (Prim)
"So, are you okay?" (Noa)
"Yeah, I'm fine. But I was scared." (Prim)
We entered the room to listen to Prim's story.
Prim rode on the re-summoned Kumayuru and told us about the mansion.
Prim entered the mansion and searched various places. When she entered there was a magnificent door, and there was a picture of Prim's older sister hanging there.
While she was looking for clues about her sister in the room, a man came in and started looking for something. She thought he was looking for her, so she ran away.
"The fact that there is a picture of Prim-san’s sister means that she is in that mansion." (Noa)
"Yes, I think there is. Also, a man saw a picture of my sister and said it was mine." (Prim)
"Then, I guess she's being held prisoner?" (Noa)
It reminded me of a scene in a manga where a fairy was trapped in a bird cage.
If they were captured, they must be rescued quickly.
"But there are servants. The lord said he didn't have any sources of information, so I thought there was no one." ()
That was certainly true.
I thought it was normal for nobles to have knights and servants.
Knights may be at the mercy of their lords, but what about servants?
I guessed there was no information on that.
It might be a good idea to ask guildmaster and Carla-san.
"So, where did Yuna and the others go?" (Prim)
We also explained it to Prim.
"I'm not sure. That's what I was doing." (Yuna)
Well, from Prim's point of view, the knight's actions and the mana of the town's residents were probably low priority.
For her, the matter of Prim's sister was important, but I was equally concerned about the matter of the lord, the knight, and the matter of magic.
Even if we found Prim's older sister, I didn't think it was okay to leave things like this.
Above all, from what I had heard from guildmaster and Prim, it seemed like the lord was quite obsessed with fairies, and it didn't seem like he would be able to bring Prim's sister back easily.
It was better to think that the lord or knight would get in our way. The more information we had, the better.
The next day, we headed to the adventurer's guild to meet guildmaster and Carla-san.
Guildmaster looked sleepy, but he was fine.
Apparently, he lived in this adventurer's guild.
"Can't you get any information from the people who work at the lord's mansion?" (Yuna)
Based on the information Prim had obtained, we asked about the servants at the mansion.
"When the story of fairies came out, many people were laid off." (Guildmaster)
They were laid off. That meant they were forced to quit.
"But Prim says she saw someone working." (Yuna)
"At least there are, but they don't come out of the mansion." (Guildmaster)
"Do they want to go shopping? If they're alive, they'll probably need it." (Noa)
"The merchants we favor are directly transporting necessary items such as ingredients to the mansion." (Guildmaster)
"Then, do you have any information from that merchant?" (Yuna)
"For merchants, customer information is a trust issue. Even if they knew, they wouldn't talk about it. Moreover, the other party is the lord of this city and a business partner. There's no way they'd give up on something that would make them money." (Guildmaster)
Even merchants needed money to survive. Moreover, if he became a lord, he would be the best customer. It might be the worst situation for the city, but it could also be said to be the best situation for the merchants.
"That's right. If you're a merchant who has a contract with a noble, you probably won't share information about the noble with others. If they find out what you've said, you won't be able to do business with other nobles. I thought the information would be shared with me. Before that, people who share other people's information will not be trusted." (Noa)
"......"
"......"
Guildmaster and Carla-san looked at Noa's words with surprised expressions.
"Noir-chan, are you really a child from the village?" (Guildmaster)
"Um, uh, of course. Just a normal village kid you could find anywhere." (Noa)
Noa smiled deceptively.
That deceptive smile seemed to be saying otherwise.
It might be too late now, but it might have been difficult for Noa, who was raised as a noble's daughter, to play the role of a child of the village.
If you didn't talk to her, she was just a pretty girl, but if you did talk to her, the amount of knowledge she had was different from that of the village kids. She couldn't be fooled.
"Well, anyway, just like you said, it will be difficult to get information from the merchant." (Guildmaster)
However, guildmaster and Carla-san did not pursue Noa's reply, which was revealed to be a lie.
"By the way, is it a picture of a fairy?" ()
"It seems like there's no doubt that she's Prim-chan's older sister." (Guildmaster)
"Yeah, I think there definitely is." (Prim)
"But you couldn't find her." ()
"I ran away because I was scared." (Prim)
"I think that's fine. If you had gotten caught, you would have been in trouble." ()
If Prim hadn't come back, maybe it would have hindered my future actions.
It would be difficult to find the place where she was captured.
If we hadn't done it right, she might have been taken hostage.
It was enough that she came back safely.
Then, guildmaster asked me to do one thing.
That was yesterday.
He wanted Prim to explore the inside of the lookout tower.
However, she didn't have to force herself.
Prim accepted.
"Then why don't you just take a look at this?" ()
"Yes, as guildmaster also said, don't do anything impossible." ()
"I know." (Prim)
Prim rushed out after saying that.
After all, it was nice to be able to fly.
I could jump up to the lookout tower, but if I did that, people would notice me and said, "There's a bear flying in the sky!" or something like that.
I decided to wait with Noa for a while.
"Yuna-san, I’m sorry." (Noa)
"Yeah? What do you mean?" (Yuna)
"I haven’t fully become a village girl." (Noa)
"Are you worried about that? It's fine. As long as Noa does what she does." (Yuna)
"But" (Noa)
"Information that only aristocrats know? I guess you could call it the actions of aristocrats. That's something that we don't know. Among us, it's something that only Noa, who is an aristocrat, knows." (Yuna)
"Yuna-san..." (Noa)
"Also, guildmaster and Carla-san seem to have noticed it, but they don't seem to want to pursue it too deeply. So, if Noa notices something, feel free to tell us." (Yuna)
"Okay!" (Noa)
Noa happily replied.
"Prim-san, is she okay?" (Noa)
"If she thinks it's dangerous, she'll run away." (Yuna)
We look up where Prim was headed. She had even returned from the mansion where her older sister might be. Maybe she could make a judgment about that.
If something were to happen, just rushed in and took Prim back. In that case, it would be difficult to take any further action, so I hoped she could come back without any problems.
After waiting for a while, Prim came back safely.
According to Prim's report, it was unknown whether there was a magic circle or not, but a large number of magic stones were placed on the vessel.
If we thought about it normally, there was no need for a large number of magic stones on the watchtower.
There seemed to be no doubt that it was being used to steal the mana that guildmaster was talking about.
We reported this to guildmaster and returned to the inn.
That night, when I was asleep, I heard someone's voice.
Be quiet.
"Prim, wake up." ()
"Uh, who?" (Prim)
"It's okay, wake up." ()
"Oh, sister!" (Prim)
"Prim, it's been a while." ()
Prim's scream woke up my half-asleep brain.
Is it Prim's sister?
I continued pretending to be asleep in order to grasp the situation.
"Sister, why are you here? I came to look for my sister." (Prim)
"Yes, I know. I think you came to the mansion the other day." ()
"Did you know? Then why didn't you come out? No, it doesn't matter. Onee-chan, let's go home." (Prim)
"I came to tell you today. I'm not going home, so you should go back to the fairy forest by yourself." ()
"Sister!" (Prim)
Prim screamed.
I couldn't listen in silence any longer.
"What does that mean?" (Yuna)
I got up.
Besides Prim, there was one other fairy there.
Prim's older sister...
Author's Note
I want to neatly summarize the story from last time and this time...
That's why Prim's older sister is here.
Finally, the story moved...
* Thank you to everyone who reports typos.
Please note that some kanji have been revised to match the book, so some may not have been revised.